Apparatus for treating food products



. March 8,1931

APPARATUS FOR TREATING FOOD PRODUCTS 7 Filed Dec. 15, 192'! 2 sheets-Sheet 1 a MU mmn

Patented Mar. 8,1932

PATENT QFFICE VI JOHN SGHMI DT; OF 'HOOPESTON ILLINOIS,.ASSIGNOR.TO SPRAGUE- SELLS CORPORA- TION, or" HooPEsToN, ILLINOIS nrrnnnmus ron a nnnrnveroonrnonuo'rs;

imam filed mem er. 192?. SeriaI'No. [249,227. I

This invention relates to 'a machine for pulping such materials as pumpkin, tomato,

celery, asparagus and in fact any food prod- A not that requires macerationin its preparation for canning purposes. r

the pulping of materlal' for canning or other purposes 'it is highly desirable that complete control of the material while passing through the machine, had by the operator,

sothjat the timein which it is treated may be regulated to suit therequirements ofthe particular material being handled, to thereby give itfalong'er or shorter treatment according to the fibrous or other inherent nature in the material Some materials needla preliminary cutting or crushing treatment before reaching the pulping part of the appara-'. tus 'in order to bring the material into small enough'particles to be acted on properly and efliciently by the pulping mechanism. Other materials require this preliminary crushing and in addition'require to be out into small pieces to destroythe fibrous character of the material such for'instance asasparagus and celery.

The complete unitary apparatus provided means for controlling Qthe time movement of material therethroughso @as to give proper pulping action to a wide variety of matei l 1 .i

*It isalso an object of the invention to provide means in apulping machine for food products for giving-a preliminary crushing and cutting operation handled.

to materials being It is also anobject of the invention to provide means for cutting material of a fibrous nature so that-the-material will pass to. the pulping mechanism small pieces adapted to be easily operated upon-by. thepulper mechanism. Y Y

It is also an object of the invention to provide means for admitting material to the apturn thematerial while vide means of controlling vthe paratus from either side as a matter of convenience for the canner.

It is also an object ofthe invention to provide a pulping mechanism that will tend to pulping screen.

With such objects in view as well as other advantages which may be-inherent in the invention, consisting in the parts and combina tions hereinafter." set forthand claimed, it is understood that the several necessary elements and combinations constituting the same may be varied in their proportions,

moving it along the placement and general arrangement without departing from the. scope and nature of the invention.

In orderto make the invention moreclearly understood, there areshown, somewhat diagrammatically, in the accompanying I drawings means and mechanism for placing the same in concrete form, without limiting the improvements in their applications to the particular construction chosento illustrate the invention. k 1 By reference now to the drawings a better and clearer understanding of the invention will behad. I

Fig. 1 represents a vertical sectional elevation through the longitudinal axis of the machine. A This view clearly shows the prelimi nary crushing and cutting apparatus and clearly. shows .the arrangement of the pulping :reels and how they are divided toprorial throughthe screen.

Fig; 2 is an end elevation looking fr th right end of Fig.1. I

' Fig. 3 isa crosssectional elevation taken 7 on approxiniately the line 3-3of '1.

1 represents a general frame work on which the operative apparatus is mounted. a 2 is the pulping screen member mounted on and carried by suitable'heads and clamping members. 3 is the central driving shaft which op crates all of the elementsconstituting the pulper. i and 5 are tight. and loose pulleys for turning the shaft, and receive their motions from a suitable belt not shown. 6 isfla feed hopperthat isprovided with a diverging f mouth that extends outward toward opposite sides of the machine to facilitate placing material therein from either side as a matter of convenience. 7 is a screw feed element housed in a chamber 8 forming a bottom of the feed hopper 6. 9 is a crusher head obstructing the opening from the chamber 8 into the screen chamber 2. 3 This crusher head has a seriesof holes through which the material is forced by the screw 7 to reduce it to a condition that will tend to more perfect pulping, theseholesare designated by the numeral 10. ilustiinsideo'f the crusher head 9 is a rotary cutter head 11 having a series of knives located in close relation to the crusher head .9 so as to cut any fibrous material into small pieces to faeilitate pulpin Formaterial-that does not need cutting t e knives are removedor cadjusted away fromthe crusher head. There are two pulping reels in the screen sect-ion designated by 112and 13, each having substantially equally spaced pulping bladesas is shown in Fig. 3. These maybe solid blades as shown or-brushes for softermaterials. Underneath the screenmemberQ is arranged a receiving chamber 14 into which :all of the material ;passes that gets through .the Screen 2. c I

, 7 Operation Materials to be treated are dumped by hand or bysuitable conveying means not shown, into the hopper 6 from eitherside of the machine, this material drops onto the feed screw 7 andisgradually forced against the crushinghead 9 which action macerates most materials so that they squeeze through the holes 10 in the crusher head where-they are met by 'the cutter head 11 which-cuts the material into small pieces ifit is of a fibrous nature. From here it drops into the screen member 2 and is immediately picked up by the reel 12 and carried arou'nd'by the reel blades in contact with the screen surface which action squeezes more or less of the materialt-hrough the screen mesh from which I it drops intothe receiver chamber 14. As

the material is moved around the-screen 2 it is also carried along the screen surface axially of the'screen aata speed that is governed by the pitch of the reelblades. VVhilebeing moved in this manner the material is supposed *to :roll over and overso'that all of it will come into contact with the screen suriaue and. that, "which is desired will be squeezed through :the ;screen.- This theory does not work out in practice as :I have found by building many of the regular types of pulpers. Many materials instead ofrolling over andover as is necessary to get effective operation, simply slide around on "the surface of .thescreen :so that the lower part of the mass ;in front'of each blade is the only part that is'beingsubjeeted to screen action, that *forming the top ofthe mass sometimes never reaching'the screen, therefore I have material passes from the end of the first reel intocontact with therend of thesacand meel it is imosteompletely turned over and new surfaces of the mass of material are subjected to the screening action. For purpose of illustration in the drawings I have shown only 'two'reel'sections,which"are suflicient for some materialsthat are easily mixed. .1 wantzit'understood lintend to use as many real sectionsinanyunitar. apparatusasare found necessary to ,proper y turn the vmaterial .to get the most elficient operatiomT-or to control the time of passing thro'ughthe screenanemher. having ree'l members 'eratingiin tandem rlation'il Tani able by c anging the Pitch of the reel blades .to make the material move fast or slow as may be desired. I ma have onereelarrangedto move ithematerial slow and the next-onetomove it'ia and the next to move it slow a 'in, or

can arrange "the itch of the bla es to give any componento movement desired lfor any 96 kind of material being handled. In order to get some relativelyhardandffibrous material throng? "the screen it "may ';be mecessar "to move 1 "very slowly axially "butsubject 1t to many revolutions in contact with the screen, while other softer and more liquid materials would require a fast axi'al'speed and many less frevolutions' around the screen surface. This manner of controlling theaiiialmovement (if the material relative to the movement and the turning of the mass of material eachftime it passes from "one reel to the line gives "such "a graduated control of the operation that material fthatj-is pul ped can be most eflici'ently handled. y

The reel blades in the drawings "do not show very much pi'tdhbut :this is of noimportancefin illustrating the invention. The spiders on which the reelhlades are attached adjusted on the shaft by set screws, .or any other Well known means and can easily 'beradusted to whatever anglemaybedesired bytheqperamnand since apparatus avillbe constructed with :as many .reelseotion'siasmre necessaryztohandle any-material adjmstmm sired may be obtained by multiplying the reel ing food materials comprising a rotaryscrew for feeding materials, a macerating device through which said materials are forced by said screw, a screen member for receiving said material, a plurality of reel members for beating said material against said screen member, saidvreel membershaving overlapping ends to cause a turning of said material first mentioned paddles, said screw and padwhenpassing from one to theother.

2. An apparatus for treating food products compri sng a screened chamber for receiving a product to be treated, a'plurality of movable members located within said screened member and being positioned in tandem relation with the ends of adjacent members overlapping,means for imparting movement to said members to thereby produce both axial and rotary movement to amass of material, means for adjusting the said movable members relative to the said screened member to thereby vary the relative speed of movement of said material axially of said screened member. a

3. An apparatus for treating food materials comprising a feed device, a macerating or crushing device and a cutting member,

reel members and a perforate casing in which said reel members are positioned, a i drive shaft on which said feed device, cutting device and'reel members are mounted, means on said shaft for imparting movement there-' to, means securing said reel members on said shaft whereby they may be given adjustment to change their angularity to thereby regulate the movement of material along and through 7 said perforate screen, all of said reel members being in some angular adjustment and all being independently adjustable.

4. An apparatus for pulping food materials comprising a cylindrical perforate casing, an operating shaft extending axially through said casing, a material feed device a cutting device and a plurality'of reel members mounted on said shaft, the positioning of said reel members on said shaft being such that the blade members overlap at their adjacent ends, securing means for maintaining the reel members in a desired adjustment relone end of said cylinder to said which is perforate, a shaft journaled in'said,

cylinder, a perforate plate intermediate the length of said cylinder, a hopper to feed material to said cylinder adjacent one end a hopper adjacent the other end thereof to ischarge expressed material, a screw member beneath said. feed hopper and extending from erforate plate, paddles of relatively slight pitch midway said cylinder, and paddles of greater pitch than that of the first mentioned paddles coextensive with said discharge hopper and at their ends overlapping l the ends'of said dles advancing fruitvfrom one end of said cylinder to the otherwith increasing speed as the discharge hopper is approached.

In testimony whereof Iaflix my signature. 7 JOHN SCHMIDT.

ative to said shaft whereby the angularity of i the reel members may be changed to suit different materials and to regulate the speed of travel of the material along and through the Y perforations of said screen member, all of said plurality of screen members being adjusted at some angularity relative to said shaft and each of said plurality of reel members being adjustable independent of any other reel member.

5. A fruit juice expressing device comprising a cylinder, a portion of the wall of 

